Topline
President Donald Trump will announce the first Kennedy Center Honors recipients Wednesday since he fired Democratic members of the board and took over as chairman in February, which the center has hinted will include a “country music icon, an Englishman,” and a “New York City Rock band.”
Trump will announce the Kennedy Center honorees at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning, an official account for his administration posted on X.
Though the honorees are not yet known, the Washington Post reported the administration has considered country music star George Strait, rock band Kiss and English actor Michael Crawford.
The rumored names square with hints the Kennedy Center posted on Tuesday night, stating the honorees would include a “country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor.”
Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday his administration is working to bring the Kennedy Center “back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment,” also hinting he wants to rename the institution to the “TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER.”
The Kennedy Center Honors are an annual awards ceremony in which various people across the performing arts are honored for their lifetime contributions and achievements. The ceremony has been broadcast on CBS since its inception in 1978, though Deadline reported it is not a ratings blockbuster and is instead more of an opportunity for network executives to mingle with politicians. Recent honorees have included director Francis Ford Coppola and singer Bonnie Raitt in 2024, singer Dionne Warwick and rapper-actress Queen Latifah in 2023, and actor George Clooney and rock band U2 in 2022.
In February, Trump said he would “make the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., GREAT AGAIN” by terminating members of the board of trustees and taking over as the center’s chairman. Trump, and other Republican critics, accused the center of hosting “Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth,” possibly referring to an event the institution held in 2024 titled “Dragtastic Dress-up,” which the New York Times reported as aimed at “LGBTQ+ youth under 18.” Trump purged and replaced the board of former President Joe Biden’s appointees and was elected chairman by the new board. Trump’s takeover of the center was met with protests from artists, including actress-comedian Issa Rae, who canceled a scheduled show at the Kennedy Center, and television producer Shonda Rhimes, who resigned from the center’s board. Singer Renée Fleming, a 2023 Kennedy Center honoree and artistic advisor, resigned from her post and praised “bipartisan support for this institution,” without naming Trump.
In July, House Republicans passed an amendment that would rename the Kennedy Center’s opera house after First Lady Melania Trump. The amendment is part of a bill to fund the Interior Department, but the bill still needs to pass both houses of Congress to become law. Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., introduced the “Make Entertainment Great Again Act” in July proposing the center be named after Trump, though the House has not taken action on this bill.
Who gets Kennedy Center Honors under Trump? Here are three likely picks. (Washington Post)